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25 July 2010

I am a big city girl to the bone, but I still don't get out of town often enough. When I do leave Copenhagen behind it is rarely to explore my own country, but yesterday I had a long overdue taste of the countryside. A lot of Danes keep a summer house. Some are lucky to have one in the family, some can afford their own, but a lot can not (or they just don't care to). The other way of getting your hit of nature is the small patches of land called allotment gardens. Less expensive, smaller and closer to the city than the summer houses, where you are allowed to build a small house. But until yesterday I had not heard about the trailer park option. The long term camping solution, that basically is like having a summer house on wheels, only it is not going anywhere. It is a small community, very organised and very cosy, and when you cross paths with a stranger you are greeted with a smile and a hello, something unheard of in the city. We should really take that up, it feels so good. And it brought back memories of my childhood summers, spend at my grandparents house in the north of Denmark, where they speak with a funny accent and eat dinner for lunch. Oh, how I miss those times.

A place where strange stones are falling from the sky:

Even if it was only a short day trip, it still demands two separate posts. Stay tuned for the Gilleleje harbour festival. I was so out of my galaxy that I might as well have brought my passport...

I used to be a city girl yearning for the country side, now I'm a country girl escaping to the city. The allotment movement is big in the UK now, too - but trailer parks are mainly for the seaside, and they are mostly not very appealing. Interesting stones!

Hi Sabine, it is funny I assumed the allotment garden was a Danish thing, but as I was looking for the translation I learned that it is all over the world. I wish I could rent one for a month, just to try it out... Being outside the city always impairs my breathing if I stay too long.

Hi Uden Relevans, I feel the same way. I dream of a private roof garden, or a small oasis in the city somewhere. :-)

Hi Sandra, Your grandparents are not the only ones to speak of having dinner for lunch. My grandparents who lived in rural Indiana, USA always had dinner for lunch and supper for dinner. It must have been a generational thing.

Hi Mook, that is so cosy! I am thinking it has to do with the energy needed in the daytime to work hard, the way the eat the biggest meal in the middle of the day. It was very overpowering for a skinny big city child to eat hot food in the middle of the day, in the summertime. But also a little like an adventure.

hi Carole, I am wondering what is with the stones too. Someone suggested they were meteors, or something related. Maybe a mumified piece of crap from an austronaut? They looked like melted glass at places, plus iron... I don't know.

But smiling in LA? That sounds like the opposite of NY. It must feel nice and welcoming. :-)

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Greetings

We love Copenhagen so expect us to be biased. We hug trees, and we love street art, flea markets, old cars and new ideas. We go everywhere by bike, and nowhere without a camera. We worship freedom of speech and believe in democracy, but we have long since lost faith in our politicians. Me and my big mouth.